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Chapter 79: The Price Of Things

There were things that the mind could not fathom, sudden disasters and outbreaks that have no meaning nor rhyme to them. Events could happen without any warning and that was something that most may have forgotten. Humanity had learned how to theorize, hypothesize and find how point A would lead to point B, but sometimes, or perhaps most of the time the end result would always be different from what one expects.

The [ Headmaster ] of Kraelonia Academy was a veteran, someone who had fought alongside the Hero, one could even call them a hero as well if they wished to refer to them as such. But it was his own folly that had led to the chaos in the South Gate of the City of Gloria.

"[ Professor ] Orleans has finally sent back a reply," The [ Wizard ] in charge of the receiving of [ Message ] sighed in relief, clutching her staff with utmost concern that flooded her face. The other [ Professors ] had been ready to go, with or without his permissionwhich was something. But at least they had finally covered it.

One [ Swordsman ] laughed and leaned back against his chair, digging its feet into the floor by his sheer weight, he glanced at the young man standing by the door. "Easy there lad, as you can see, she can handle it on her own."

The young man was wrought, if the frown and the creased forehead had been any indication. "We must survey the perimeter immediately, they are probably not alone."

An older [ Battle Mage ] sipped his tea and sighed, "You must remember that we are not the ones assigned over the City, we are merely offering our services"

"They've escaped with a hostage."

"What?"

"She says that they'd abducted someone and then escaped. She's asking for reinforcementwell, someone to take over it. The entire [ Guardsmen ] or at least those who had been fighting them off were completely obliterated. The [ Healers ] are coming around and trying to treat the ones who were poisoned. So she's trying the best that she can to slow down and negate the effects with her [ Healing Aura ]."

Or perhaps he should not be the one to be blamed.

The [ Guardsmen ] of the City had been ill-prepared, too weak, unorganized as the entire place had turned to destruction and mayhem even with the three intruders fleeing.

But there was much more trouble to come.

Somebody swung the door open, another [ Mage ] came bolting into the office. They looked as if they had run from one end of the Tower to another, the man panted and wiped the sweat off their brows, bowing their body low in respect, "[ Headmaster ]! There is a [ Message ] from the [ High Commander ]!"

It was as if a roar could be heard from a distance.

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Within the entrance of the forest sitting nearby the City of Gloria, the wind blew through the leaves and rustled the branches. The last colours of the sun were flickering and casting the usual green verdue with a splash of orange and red, while deep within the forestit was probably black as night. And with a tale as old as time itself, a party was to be held, a group that were of different backgrounds, sex, character and even race were together.

And it was there that they would commune with one another.

Or perhaps it would be a one-sided conversation.

Han had to be very persuasive. He needed to explain how bad of an idea it would be to return to the city but he also needed to get in contact with the [ Wood Elf ]. Questions ran through his mind, why would they leave their forest? What had been the fuss about for them to depart? Did they have any safety measures while they left their territory?

The remembrance of the [ Demon Lord ] blocking them from their private chat and even being absent from the most recent conversation in the [ Universal Chat ] had him stressed in the least. What if they were planning to attack Rockfall Village again when he was gone? Revenge seemed like a very likely event whether or not he was actually there.

Conversations about the return to the city were placed on hold as trading began, the [ Shadow Elf ] held up a bag that vanished into thin air, while the [ Tiefling ] was more than content to lean back against one of the tree branches. Han tried not to look openly at them but it also meant that he didn't even manage to catch much of a glimpse of what Sage Grass they had but it was surely the same with him. 

It was there and then that Lucia gave a smile at the [ Mermaid ] as she pressed something in the air, "Alright, I've accepted the request." She even gave a wink at the other girl, "Thank you for trading with the Everblade Triad, I added some delicacies from the Light Elf Kingdom. Not sure if they'll be consumable underwater so you can try them now~"

But first of all, he had to grab the Sage Grass from his [ Inventory ]. He needed to focus on the people he was currently with. There hadn't actually been a lot and only the recent [ Gathering of Resources ] had increased it by a short margin. "Um, so we have Sage Grass here." He half-wondered how important the grass was for it to warrant a [ Mermaid ] to get out of water and get it herself. Perhaps he shouldn't give his? Well, he could always get some later.

[ Trade Request! ]

Would you like to accept 5 Seaweed in exchange for 5 Sage Grass? 

Confirm Yes / No

"Thank you so much Han." Odele thanked him and inclined her head.

He managed a smile and waved it off, "It's not a problem." Though he had no idea what to do with the items he had gotten in exchange, he'd find a use for them at a later datethe [ Mermaid ] before him was a beauty as she smiled, in spite of receiving slimy seaweed, he didn't really care.

But now that the Trade was over, he needed to handle preventing the trio well there were four of them now from returning back to the City as well as meeting up with the [ Wood Elf ]. He immediately turned to the [ Light Elf ], from how they were acting during and after the fightshe seemed to be the one most vocal. "Are you four waiting for the [ Wood Elf ]?"

"No."

"Ngh..."

"Eh?!"

"Huh?"

All four of them had different reactions to the mention of the name, from obvious distaste to even confusion, and even curiosity. The [ Light Elf ], Lucia as she had been referred to by the others gave a smile, "Not really, I didn't know that he would even be comingbut it seems that Odele came with him."

"Ah, well, I'm not too familiar with the place and there's no direct water source around the City of Gloria so I had asked for some help." The [ Mermaid ] explained as she scratched her cheek, "I've been somewhat rude, not even inviting him but I did fulfill my end of the bargain and gave him the [ Black Pearl ] for his help"

She was a bit of a rambler it seemed.

But on the other end of the spectrum, both the [ Tiefling ] and [ Shadow Elf ] had a negative reaction to his statement. And with how they were looking right now, he wouldn't bother asking them why.

"I see," Han sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, "I wanted to offer myself as a tour guide around the city but I really need to talk with the [ Wood Elf ] first" Well, he hadn't actually explored the city at all and couldn't tell anything yet without the world map so this was actually a fib.

"We are not children." The [ Tiefling ] spat, giving him a look that seemed like it could kill him. They even backed off the tree and slinked towards him, "Why don't you give a little more respect to elders?"

The [ Light Elf ] was the first to ease the tension and waved a hand, "We don't really mean to interrupt or intrude on your schedule, please don't worry about us. We'll be perfectly fine!"

It wasn't like Han was worried about them.

He was more worried about the state of the city!

"Ah, well it's not like all four of you are planning to demolish the entire city or anything like that right?" Han decided to be honest. What more could happen now?

The [ Tiefling ] gave a snort, "And what if we will? Is there anything else you'd do? It doesn't seem like you can protect the city can you?"

And she was perfectly right about that. Han considered reasons on why attacking would be a bad idea for them and which was the perfect response to deter them: He had an alliance? It would be troublesome for them to keep fighting with only so few of them in numbers? That wouldn't work if they were eager to battle.

At last an answer came to mind.

"You must understand that each action has their own repercussions, if you choose to go with that way...are you actually prepared for a war?

The [ Tiefling ] balked for a moment at his reply, she stayed silent for a moment and opened her mouth to reply but was beat to it

"Now, now Tierra, we've discussed thiswell, we didn't really talk about it," A sheepish smile formed on the [ Light Elf ]'s face as she waved her hands, trying to dismiss the conversation, "But we're here to sightsee and explore a bit before we return back to our lands. And since Han here is new, we could be a little nicer to him, right?"